This archive report was first published on 29 August 2019.
On August 29, 2019, the Trump administration released a policy manual update affecting the citizenship status of children born to US government employees and members of the US armed forces stationed abroad.
According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the new policy replaces the previous one, which considered children born to US citizens working for the government or the armed forces and stationed abroad to be 'residing in' the US.
Under the updated policy, parents of such children will be required to file Form N-600K, Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322, whereas previously they could file either Form N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship or Form N-600K.
The change was made to align with the definition of residence in the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) and INA 322(d), enacted in 2008, which defines children born to US members of the armed forces stationed abroad as 'residing outside of the United States.'
The updated policy takes effect on October 29, 2019.
